


A Friend in Need is More Than Just a Friend

by PrinceKapitan



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas Vacation, F/F, bad marriage, estranged father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27921514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceKapitan/pseuds/PrinceKapitan
Summary: When Adrien is pulled away for a photo shoot, Marinette agrees to accompany Kagami and her mother to see the estranged patriarch of the Tsurugi family
Relationships: Kagami Tsurugi & Tomoe Tsurugi, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 96
Collections: December 2020 - Advent Calendar





	1. Chapter 1

Christmas was a time for joy, cheer, gifts and love. Of course, Marinette would often give out a lot of those, to everyone. Of course she would, it was in her nature. Everyone was happy to receive whatever she gave them. Even Chloé, she was just too stubborn to admit it… well there was Lila, but that was a non-issue. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen if she does?

One day however, the designer walked out of the classroom to find a glum Kagami speaking with Adrien.

“Look, I’ll see if I can talk it over with my father,” he said. Marinette walked over to see what was the matter, of course she would. Anytime she saw a problem, she’d head over to solve it.

“Talk what over?” Marinette asked.

The two turned to the dark-haired girl, both sheepishly. “I was supposed to accompany Kagami to Japan to see her father. They haven’t spoken in a while and I wanted to be there for her in case things got tense between them.” Marinette’s mouth formed an ‘o’ shape.

“Tense? What do you mean tense?”

“Ms. Tsurugi-san hasn’t talked to him since they came to Paris, and Kagami’s a bit nervous about how the holidays will go. I was going to be there for her, but father wants me home for the holidays in case any Christmas photo shoots come up.”

“Oh, Adrien I’m so sorry!” Marinette said, exasperated. Kagami placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, I know you’ll knock ‘em dead tiger.” She playfully placed her fist gently on his cheek as he chuckled.

“I’ll do my best,” but then an idea popped into the model’s head. “Say, Marinette? Maybe you could go with Kagami.”

“What?! Me?! Why?!”

“I mean if you want to, you don’t have to.”

Marinette thought about it for a minute. She did want to help Kagami, but would her parents be okay with her traveling for the holidays? Probably, but she had never spent a Christmas away from them. Adrien noticed the designer struggling to come up with a decision.

“Look,” he rationalized, “Kagami’s plane doesn’t leave for another week. You don’t have to decide until then. I still have my ticket so you can use that if you like.” He handed Marinette the ticket for safe keeping. He couldn’t use it and it’d be a bummer to just toss it out.

“Let me talk it over with my parents, and if they say yes,” she turned to Kagami, grabbing the swordswoman’s hands with her hands, “Definitely.” All she could do was smile at the designer, she knew Marinette worked her fingers to the bone for everyone and she was more than grateful to have the designer doing it for her.

“Call me if you need me,” Adrien chirped. “I’ll do my best to help you out if I can.” With that, he took off, leaving the two girls to discuss travel plans. Before that, Marinette needed to know the whole story and thus she asked.

“So, your father. Are him and your mom divorced?” Kagami shook her head.

“They’re living apart, father didn’t want to leave Japan, but mother insisted I take my lessons up here. He’s a stubborn man and sadly he and my mother have a really rocky relationship.”

“Rocky? What do you mean?”

“My father suspects my mother of having an affair, every time they’re on the phone I hear Gabriel Agreste’s name at least ten times. He thinks Mr. Agreste is the man who she is seeing.” Marinette scoffed in disbelief, waving her hand at the sheer thought.

“That’s preposterous! Those two?!”

“I know it’s silly, but my father is suspicious of everything.”

“Well I have your back, Kagami,” Marinette assured the swordswoman.

With no time to lose she went home to ask her parents if she could accompany Kagami. Once she got through the door, she was huffing and puffing.

“Mom… Dad… I’m… home… can… we… talk… a minute?” She asked, struggling to catch her breath.

“Sure dear,” Sabine answered in her usual sugary tone, the two had just finished setting up decorations.

“A friend of mine asked me if I could accompany her to see her father, they’ve been estranged for a long time.” Sabine’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape. 

“But sweetie, it’s Christmas. Are you sure you want to spend that time away from home?”

“Please Mom! She really needs someone to help her, she hasn’t seen her father in ages.”

“Her father? Who hasn’t seen their father in ages?” Tom asked, walking in having just finished decorating the gingerbread houses. “How do they look sweetie?”

“They look amazing!” Marinette chirped. “You’ve really outdone yourself papa!”

“Indeed you have, darling,” Sabine added on.

“Now who’s this friend you want to help?” Tom asked. “You know you have my support.”

“Kagami Tsurugi, I think you’ve met her mom before.”

“Kagami?” Tom wondered. “You two are friends?”

“Yeah, we became friends during the Bourgeois reunion party.” Tom patted his daughter’s shoulders with his gorilla hands.

“Then by all means go, if she has Marinette keeping her company then I know she’s in good company,” he said in a jolly tone.

“You two won’t mind? It’ll all be okay?” Sabine giggled at her daughter’s needless worries.

“Marinette, we both know you can handle yourself and if you wanna help Kagami, I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”

“But how are you going to pay for the ticket?” Tom wondered. Marinette held out the one Adrien gave her.

“Adrien gave me his. He was gonna go, but his dad had other plans for him. So, I thought I could go in place of him. If that’s okay with you two, is it?”

The two nodded in delight.

“Our little girl is growing up so fast,” Tom sniffled.

“Make sure to call us once you’re down there,” Sabine requested.

“Sure thing, mom.”

She gave her parents quick kisses on the cheek and dashed up to her room, out of her bag came Tikki.

“Marinette, are you sure this is wise? Who’s going to look after Paris?”

“I’ve got the Horse Miraculous, Tikki. Everything’s gonna be fine.”

“It’s really nice of you to be doing this for Kagami.”

“Of course, she’s my friend, and friends stick together.”

“Like you and me?” Marinette nuzzled the kwami playfully.

“Exactly like you and me.”

The day of Kagami’s departure came, she stepped onto the airplane her mom had reserved for them, looking back to see if Marinette would show up. Glumly she stepped on, figuring she couldn’t make it. But suddenly, a voice called out.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIITTTT!”

The swordswoman turned back and without a doubt, it was Marinette. All she could do was smile, Marinette might have been erratic, but she was without a doubt sweet and dependable.

“Sorry I’m late, Kagami. Ready to go?”

“Sure, Marinette.”

On to the plane they stepped, ready for the long trip ahead of them. Noticing Marinette sitting in the back alone, Kagami worked her way to sit next to her.

“Glad you could make it,” she whispered.

“Sorry, I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to make sure I could so I wouldn’t disappoint you if I didn’t.” Kagami nodded.

“Well thanks for being here anyway, Marinette. It really means a lot.”

She took one look at the designer’s smile. It was always cute, she had always wondered why Adrien never wanted to kiss those soft looking lips, or anyone for that matter. Kagami had always wanted to get to know Marinette better, it’s just she had been nervous to do so. To put a cherry on top, she was in love with Adrien. Naturally this put tension between them, or at least that’s how it seems.

“Marinette,” she asked her once more.

“What is it?”

“Thank you again,” she uttered in a sweet voice.

The girls enjoyed the rest of their flight, sipping on smoothies and playing mobile games on their phones. After a bit of cheerful back and forth, at last the two made it to Japan. They de-boarded to find Kagami’s father waiting for them.

“Tomoe,” he uttered in an unpleasant tone.

“Hisashi,” she snapped back in an even more unpleasant tone. Just from that greeting it was clear the two were on pretty bad terms. After a sharp glare at his wife, he turned to his daughter.

“Hello, Kagami,” he sternly said before turning to Marinette. “Who is this?” The irritation in his voice rose.

“This is my friend, Marinette. She accompanied me in Adrien’s place because his father needed him for a photo shoot.”

“So you invited this nobody instead of that Agreste boy?! Send her back!” Marinette gasped in horror whilst Kagami took a step forward.

“Father, I can’t! She promised this for me, for us!”

“It’s bad enough Gabriel Agreste has sunk his filthy claws into you, but common folk are now friends with my daughter?!”

“Please father?” The man sighed.

“Fine, but if she puts one toe out of line, I will not hesitate to make her swim back to Paris if I have to!” Marinette looked like she was going to have an anxiety attack, Kagami’s father was clearly just as if not even more ruthless than he was described to be.

“It’ll be alright, Marinette,” Kagami reassured her. Slowly, but surely her heavy gulps of air turned into shallow breaths, the girl did her best to collect herself. She wasn’t here to please that man, she was here to help Kagami through it. If that meant having to deal with the stubborn man’s temper than so be it.

The cab ride to Hisashi’s house was tense, no one dared speak a word and all Kagami could do was stare out the window. Tomoe sat up front, but she dared not look her husband in the eye. Their relationship was past being ‘on the rocks’ and was now more towards ‘in a wreck.’ The fact that she even decided to spend Christmas with him at all was nothing short of a miracle.

“Hey, Kagami,” Marinette whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Why does your mom want to spend Christmas with your dad if they’ve got this many problems between them?” Kagami hushed Marinette desperately, her whisper got lower.

“In Japan, divorce is a very nasty business. They only stay married to preserve appearances, it would cost my mother everything to divorce my father. She thinks she owes it to my father.” Once she finished talking, she was alerted by a sharp clearing of the throat. Marinette froze like a deer in headlights, surely Tomoe heard every single word. She may have lacked the vision to see what the young girl was thinking, but she heard things and she heard them real well, having trained her other senses to be much stronger. Marinette kept quiet the rest of the ride, the last thing she needed was to upset Tomoe more, or worse Hisashi. Bottom line, she was on eggshells whether she meant to be or not.


	2. Chapter 2

Once they pulled up to the house, Marinette couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows in surprise. Given how rich their family is one would think he’d be living in a bigger place. The house was a decent size, but certainly not what one would have expected from such a wealthy family.

“What’s with the small house?” Marinette asked Kagami quietly.

“It’s an act of defiance, my father chose to downsize his assets in order to spite my mother. To show that he doesn’t need her money to live.” Of course he would, pride really runs in the family Marinette supposed.

The two girls got up to their room and immediately began unpacking. Kagami noticed the designer really kept herself organized, she brought basically her whole designer’s kit. She had often considered commissioning the pigtailed girl for a new outfit, but couldn’t quite decide what outfit she wanted. She had never really had many conversations with her and it was clear they had a lot they needed to know about each other outside of just knowing Adrien.

“So, Marinette.” The designer turned back to the swordswoman.

“Yeah, what’s up Kagami?”

“How… have things been?” She asked awkwardly.

“They’ve been good Kagami, this is the first Christmas I spent away from home, but I don’t need to be nervous.

“Why is that?” Kagami wondered.

“Because I’m with you.” Kagami could only smile at that answer.

“I’m really sorry about my father, what he said to you at the airport was horrible.”

“I’m used to it. Believe it or not, I’m not as popular as everyone would think.” Kagami cocked a brow.

“How so?”

“There’s always those few people.”

“True,” Kagami nodded. As they finished getting settled in, in came Hisashi.

“Kagami!” He bellowed. She stood quickly at attention whilst Marinette fell onto the bed in terror. Hisashi simply shot a disapproving glare at the designer before turning back to his daughter. “Take your ‘friend’ out for some air while me and your mother finish setting things up. I want her to get one long look at Japan before we send her home.”

“Father, stop. She’s not that bad of a person!”

“She is a peasant, I do not have time for such common filth! Be back within the next two hours, it will be less time I have to spend around that waste of space!” Each harsh word shot at Marinette left her spooked, Kagami got between them as if to act as a human shield.

“Leave her alone… Hisashi.” And just like that, the formalities dropped. She wasn’t going to let him abuse Marinette any further. Clearly hurt by the lack of respect his daughter was showing her, he slipped out without a word. Kagami turned back to see the designer in the fetal position, trying to find out what she did wrong. “Marinette, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Kagami assured her. “Hisashi, he-- he’s always been like this.”

“I know, but it’s still scary.” Kagami gently grabbed the designer’s hands and pulled her up. 

“Let’s go for that walk, it’s pretty tense right now.”

Marinette got to her feet and followed Kagami out, the two walked around Tokyo, enjoying its various sightings and doing their best to block out the earlier altercation. The streets were very busy, befitting of Tokyo. But with the holidays coming, everyone was all over the place.

“Holidays are crazy huh?” Marinette asked the swordswoman

“Yeah,” Kagami replied, desperately looking for a place to eat. They settled for a ramen shop; sitting on the middle two stools, they took their order.

“Two bowls please?” Marinette asked the chef.

“Sure thing,” He replied cheerfully.

As the two waited, Kagami took a good look at Marinette. There was always something about her that allured her. Was it the make up she wore? Seeing her face in the moonlight, it really was beautiful. The designer noticed the short-haired girl’s aroused stare.

“Are you okay, Kagami?” She gasped, searching for an excuse for her awkward gaze.

“Uh… uh… I… uh noticed you’re wearing some cute makeup!” She replied awkwardly.

“Cute makeup? Kagami, I’m not wearing any makeup.” She suspected as much, her face was naturally this beautiful. She took in every motion it made, from her adorably confused gaze to her irresistibly sweet smile. Every expression directed at her, she felt this… warmth that she couldn’t explain. Looking into those adorably wide, bright blue eyes, it was as if an angel was staring her down. Her freckles complimented her sweet smile and on top of it her tinted black hair only added to her beautiful complexion. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Was it because Adrien was constantly on her mind? Was it because she hadn’t spent much time with her outside of him? The fact of the matter was that now more than ever, she saw how truly beautiful Marinette really was.

“Right, no makeup. Sorry,” Kagami answered sheepishly, doing her best to snap herself back into reality.

“Here you go,” the chef said. Marinette looked in awe at the bowl, looking just about ready to gulp it down. And so she did, where did she develop such an appetite? Even her less refined traits were adorable as she practically gulped down that bowl so fast it was done before Kagami even had a chance to start on her’s. Of course the designer allowed her to finish it, not that she was paying much attention to it. She was practically fixated on Marinette, something that did not go unnoticed by the designer. It was clear she wasn’t her usual serious self. Was Marinette the cause of this? Perhaps maybe she was nervous around her? Worried about upsetting her, maybe? Whatever the answer, she clearly felt different.

“Look Kagami, if something’s bothering you, you can tell me. We’re friends right?” Marinette asked, locked onto her empty stare. Without thinking, she leaned in and kissed the designer right on the lips, it was quick and it took the designer by surprise. Once Kagami pulled back, all she could see was the surprised look on the pigtailed girl’s face. Even her surprised expressions were adorable.

“Sorry,” Kagami sighed nervously, turning away from the designer. Marinette did the same, there was a long moment of silence as Kagami finished her bowl. She felt perplexed, Kagami liked her in that way? No it couldn’t be? But how else could she explain that kiss, it clearly wasn’t a friend kiss. What felt like hours, but was really about ten minutes had passed and once Kagami had finished her bowl Marinette finally spoke up.

“Are you feeling okay, Kagami?”

“Yes, why?” She asked nervously.

“I… uh… well... about what just happened…” Marinette nervously began, she wasn’t able to finish that sentence, she did not know what to say.

“I shouldn’t have done that!” Kagami woefully cried out.

“No no, Kagami it’s okay!” Marinette replied, quickly attempting to calm the short-haired girl down. “It’s just… why?” She asked, gazing at the unusually uncertain Kagami.

“Because I think I’m in love with you.” Out came the words, she didn’t even hesitate.

“You’re… in love with me?!” Marinette gasped.

“I know, it sounds crazy. I only ever hung out with you because of Adrien, but being with you… having you do this for me even when you didn’t have to… seeing you up close, while I’m alone with you… I see it now.” Marinette was quite flustered, she quickly placed the tips of her fingers together and smiled. 

“I-I uh… well I didn’t know you felt this way, Kagami.”

“I’m sorry if that kiss made you uncomfortable, I understand it was hasty of me and--”

“And I think I would like another,” Marinette slyly asked, and so she got one, this time longer and much more romantic. Kagami was an excellent kisser. She was very forward and domineering, yet gentle and sweet. Of course it tied knots in her stomach, she didn’t know if she was quite ready for this, but she was definitely supportive of Kagami and felt like at least riding it out to see where it goes.

Once the two returned home, the decorations and tree were set up in the house. There stood Tomoe and Hisashi, seemingly having patched things up… for the time being at least. All that was left was to bake the Christmas cake.

“Can Marinette do that?” Kagami asked her father, who glared at the designer. It was like he had her in laser sights. After a brief moment of silence he glanced at the oven.

“Get your apron on, peasant,” he growled. And so she did, and she got to it. Hisashi could only watch in awe at the designer’s baking skills. It was like designing one of her outfits, she was adept at it and Hisashi couldn’t hide how impressed he was by her skill.

Once the cake was finished it was wheeled out, covered up as to prevent it from getting ruined before it was time to eat it. Hisashi took a glance at the cake and turned to the designer.

“Perhaps, I underestimated you,” his tone was still scathing, but his words were well meaning. Marinette let out a smile.

“Thank you, Mr. Tsurugi.”

Once the family settled in, they enjoyed the food and dessert despite Marinette and Kagami being a little bit full from the ramen. Thankfully they had room for the cake, which everyone very much enjoyed. No one really conversed however, it was rather sad seeing how distant the Tsurugis were from one another.

Hours later, Kagami and Marinette lay in their room, Hisashi and Tomoe having gone to bed. The two girls gazed upon each other, reflecting on the night.

“Thank you, Marinette. I love you.”

“I love you too, Kagami.”

The two girls held hands, knowing they didn’t need any fancy presents, nor did they need the world in their hands. All they needed was each other and that was enough. Their parents could know in due time, they felt first they should get to know each other better. Not as rivals for Adrien’s affection, but rather… who they are as people.

“Merry Christmas, Kagami,” Marinette whispered.

“Merry Christmas, Marinette,” Kagami whispered back as they lay in a snuggling embrace, eager to enjoy the rest of their vacation together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) to see us working hard (or hardly working) on fics, pics and other fanworks.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) to see us working hard (or hardly working) on fics, pics and other fanworks.


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